


Child's Play

by SirLadyScripts (SirLadySketch)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Just a vignette, Prompto is a bad influence, Teen rating for language only, but then so is Nyx, pre-game, so...., teenage punk Noct
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 03:24:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13895223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirLadySketch/pseuds/SirLadyScripts
Summary: Nyx's day off was supposed to be a leisurely afternoon of doing absolutely nothing, but a certain pair of miscreants squash those plans. Astrals, he hates babysitting.Oneshot set before Kingsglaive, while Noct was still in school.





	Child's Play

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for being my beta, @pineovercoat!!! <3 You're the best.

Nyx believed in the Crown.

That was the point of joining the Kingsglaive, wasn’t it? You joined the Glaives to protect the Crown, because Crown protected the people. Nyx believed that, believed that in protecting the regal line of Lucis, he was in fact protecting the entire country, and therefore making the world a better place. Maybe that was oversimplifying things a bit, and maybe it glossed over all of the petty in-fighting between officers from differing regions, but it was a solid, unwavering belief that helped him get out of bed in the morning and spurred him on, both on the clock and during his off hours. Protect the Crown, and you protect the people. That was his first—and last—prerogative as a Glaive.

Even if “protecting the Crown” was protecting the Crown from itself.

Astrals, he _hated_ babysitting.

Of course, it was his own damn fault. It was his day off after a long shift, sleeping a blissful ten hours that had him waking up with early afternoon light streaming through his apartment’s tiny windows. He’d taken his time waking up and getting dressed, no real agenda for the day other than to relax, maybe take a walk around the city before meeting the gang for training and drinks later that evening.

If he’d woken up just a little bit earlier, or taken just a little more time getting dressed, he wouldn’t have stepped out of his apartment at _just_ the right time to spot the Crown Prince loitering outside of a convenience store, unaccompanied and _clearly_ not where he was supposed to be, since royalty never had much cause to visit the working-class slums of Insomnia. The Crown _certainly_ didn’t have any reason to be visiting this particular district in the middle of a school day, still dressed in uniform and playing around on his phone, clearly _not_ paying attention to his surroundings.

Nyx could’ve let the kid do his thing—it’s not like _he’d_ be one to talk, given how many school days he’d skipped when he was that age. He could’ve turned a blind eye and left, allowing them both to enjoy the beautiful spring afternoon in their own, separate ways. The prince probably would’ve appreciated that, and it wasn’t like he really _wanted_ to deal with truant teenagers.

Or he could’ve called the kid’s watchdog friend, the one who more or less made sure the Prince wore clean clothes and ate a somewhat respectable diet and showed up to the required events at the Citadel. Let Scientia pick up the kid and rat him out to his dad and assorted nannies who would no doubt put him through the paces and make him rue the day he thought it was a good idea to slip out of school without guards.

Or he could’ve been a complete killjoy and grabbed the kid by the ear and dragged him to his apartment for house arrest until the official babysitters swung by and whisked the prince off for whatever punishment was his due. That probably would’ve been the smart thing to do, since he had no backup and the area—while safe enough for off-duty Glaives—was not really a place he’d want to take a high-profile person. And he could’ve done it without too much fuss, since it was only the prince and the prince knew him—at least tangentially—probably well enough to come along peacefully. He could’ve been back to his uninterrupted walk within the hour, the prince securely back in Crownsguard care.

But Nyx’s duty was to the Crown first and foremost, even if the Crown didn’t appreciate all that entailed, so of course he took the stupid, time-consuming, and far-too-lenient approach to the whole thing to see _what_ the Crown was doing there before determining the appropriate action.

“I thought you were supposed to be a role model or something?” Nyx called out, keeping his voice casual and his expression friendly, no matter how crappy the kid’s timing was, or how much Nyx really didn’t want to have to deal with any teenage bullshit. It wasn’t that long since _he’d_ been a teenager after all; he remembered illicit days of truancy and the consequences of getting caught. Never thought he’d be the one to have to dish out the lecture, though— _that_ was a novel development.

The prince’s head snapped up, his dark eyes falling on Nyx and narrowing as he tried to place the face. Although the kid didn’t move, Nyx could see the shimmer of an Armiger activation, the boy preparing his defenses as he evaluated the threat. That was a start, at least—of course, the prince should have noticed his approach long before Nyx hailed him, and part of the kid’s punishment would probably involve a refresher course on proactive defenses and vigilance. Nyx should probably suggest it in his report—if he decided to make this official and everything.

He kept moving towards the prince and scanned the area for possible threats, but this was his literal backyard, and he knew the sounds of his streets—things were normal for the middle of a Tuesday afternoon, and apart from the Royal Brat being in a place where he should not be, nothing else was amiss. Nyx kept his gait slow and unhurried, knowing that using _The Walk of Authority_ was kinda a dick move that was sure to get the kid nervous, but then again, the prince showing up uninvited on his day off and forcing him to put in overtime was _also_ a dick move, and besides, using _The Walk_ was a lot of fun.

Of course, it was also a tell that the approaching person was miltary, and the kid’s eyebrows narrowed into a frown as he recognized the off-duty officer, or at least the casual wear of a Glaive’s t-shirt and civvy gear. Noct scoffed, dismissing the weapons and slipping his phone into his back pocket, crossing his arms with a petulant shrug.

"Whatever," was the prince's witty repartee.

Nyx resisted the urge to roll his eyes and straightened his spine, adding more heel click to _The Walk_ as he cleared the last few paces up to the boy. The kid had grown since the last time he’d seen him—a month ago, maybe two?—but he was still a good four or five inches shorter than Nyx, and Nyx carried himself like a soldier while the prince had decided to go for the ‘sulking teenager’ slouch. Smart move on the kid’s part—people in this area knew Nyx, and if they saw a kid trying to use clout against him, they’d get curious, come to investigate, and then suddenly they’d have a whole lot more company than was comfortable.

Noct ignored the cheerful chirps coming from his back pocket, unwilling to break away from his sulky glare to answer his texts. Nyx bit the inside of his cheek to stop from smiling and cleared his throat to cover up a laugh before he risked his voice.

“What’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?” he asked, and _that_ got the kid’s attention. Surprise danced across the prince’s face, although whether it was the obnoxiously flirty line or the lack of reprimand that most surprised him was hard to tell. Noct’s face quickly fell back into a scowl, but not before he shifted uncomfortably in his spot, the tiniest bit of guilt leaking through before he hid it behind unruly bangs.

“You gonna bust my ass or something?” Noct asked, refusing to look at him. “Don’t I technically outrank you?”

“See, the fun thing about being Kingsglaive is that our orders are to keep the Crown safe no matter what, even if the Crown itself doesn’t realize that our actions are in its best interests. So even if you outrank me, if you’re doing something stupid that could put your safety in jeopardy, my orders outrank your title.” Nyx grinned, watching the implications of that sink into the prince’s thoughts.

Of course, that wasn’t _actually_ true and Drautos might give him a reprimand later for lying to the prince to keep him in line, but at the same time, Nyx didn’t believe in coddling kids-- especially when they were doing something that could ultimately be stupid, reckless, and dangerous. Unsupervised jaunts through less than savory parts of Insomnia definitely counted as all three.

“You’re saying that if I don’t plan to do anything stupid, you wouldn’t have any reason to report this?” asked Noct, the frown turning more speculative as he evaluated Nyx’s position and all possible outcomes of this confrontation. There was definitely a hopeful tone to the kid’s voice.

“So you did manage to get a little schooling in reading between the lines before you decided to play hooky,” Nyx said, then shook his head, squashing that hope before the prince took it into his head to do anything stupid. Well, _more_ stupid. “Not on your life, kiddo, because, y’know, that’s sorta the issue at hand here. Your life, my job, and I’m not risking either of those so you can steal a couple of hours exposed to the sun.”

Noct tilted his head, dropping his crossed arms and shifting to a more relaxed pose. “Would it be any better if I promised you that I planned to stay inside and out of sight for the afternoon?” he asked, tilting his head up so he could look Nyx in the eye.

“What, you got a hot date or something?” Nyx asked, and laughed at the flush that burned across the prince’s cheeks. “Trust me, kid. A quick tryst isn’t worth detention, make up work, and having to explain everything to your dad when the teachers bitch about you missing class.”

It was at that moment that the convenience store’s door chimed, and a vaguely familiar blonde teenager bounced out. He carried two shopping bags that looked like they were loaded with nothing but junk food, and, given that he was also dressed in a school uniform, it was clear that he was an accomplice in the prince’s daring escapade. Oblivious to Nyx’s presence and the tense confrontation going on, he trotted over to Noct, holding out one of the bags.

“Dude, you didn’t answer your texts and I didn’t know what you wanted so I just grabbed one of—aww crap!” Argentum finally noticed Nyx’s presence and Noct’s taciturn frown (although, from Nyx’s experience, the royal brat had only ever had two settings—sleepy teenager or prig with a stick up his ass, so the frown could be typical, even among friends.)

The blonde jostled his illicit bags of junk food as he raised his arms in surrender, having the decency to look guilty even if the prince was having none of it. “We’ll come quietly! Man, Iggy's gonna kill us. Noooooooct, I’m too young to die!”

“Cut it out, you’re shaking the soda!” Noct chided, reaching over to cuff his friend on the back of the head. He rescued one of the bags and extracted the soft drink, holding it at arm’s length as he unscrewed the lid. Nyx didn’t even think—he reached out to stop the kid, getting a grip on the young royal’s wrist.

Noct stared at him, clearly shocked that a glaive would lay hands on him. Even if the two of them were clearly at fault here, he didn’t expect Nyx to actually _touch_ him. Nyx let him go, then pointed to the bottle in Noct’s hand.

“Tap on the cap for a minute or two before you open it,” he said by way of explanation. “That way it won’t explode when you open it. And you can put your arms down, kid, I’m not gonna bust your ass.”

Argentum clutched his bag of goodies to his chest, still overwhelmed by the fact that they’d been caught so quickly, but Noct did as he suggested. When he’d opened it without any explosion of froth and sticky liquids, he gave Nyx an approving look as he took a sip.

“Prompto’s parents are outta town, so we were gonna go play video games at his place,” Noct explained, apparently deciding that Nyx was trustworthy enough to know their plans. “We just wanted to get some snacks before crashing there for the night.”

“And you decided playing video games was more important than attending your studies?” Nyx asked, hating how he could practically _hear_ his mother asking him the same damn thing years ago, when he was being interrogated under similar circumstances.

“One day isn’t gonna ruin my grades,” Noct muttered, face shutting down as he realized Nyx might _not_ be the ally he’d thought.

“If we say we’re really sorry and go back now, maybe you could, um, you know…. _Not tell Ignis?”_ Prompto asked.

Nyx looked between the two of them, one kid clearly freaking out over getting into trouble (and as a commoner he probably _did_ have more to be concerned about—depending on how pissy the royal guardians were feeling, the kid could be facing attempted kidnapping charges, although the prince could probably get his friend off with a lighter reprimand.) He was friends with the Prince’s watchdog, though, so he’d probably be ok.

The prince was far harder to read, but Nyx had learned to read the king, who’d had far more years of practice in nuance and unaffected expressions. The prince was nervous, yes, but there was an underlying tension, something slightly _off_ that told Nyx the kid wasn’t telling him the whole truth of the situation. Oh, he had no doubt that they planned to hole up in Argentum’s house to play video games—even on a nice afternoon like this, video games were far more enticing than the risk of getting caught outside in the sun. But _why_ they chose today to play truant and skip out was the real mystery. Why would the royal prince risk the displeasure of his teachers, his guards, and his father---

Oh.

_Oh._

Shit.

And suddenly Nyx felt the burden of responsibility fall on his shoulders as thoughts of calling the watch on the boys fell away. Everyone deserved a chance to blow off some steam, even the crown prince. Especially when that person was dealing with a sudden illness in the family, a turn for the worse in a beloved parent’s health, even if the kid didn’t outright say it.

Noct hadn’t been in the citadel when the King’s weakened leg had buckled beneath him. He’d come as soon as he’d heard of his father’s fall, of course, but the advisors had wanted to play it off as insignificant, mostly so the press wouldn’t get ahold of the information and ultimately leak out to the Empire before they could do damage control. The king had kept up his busy schedule, despite the doctors’ orders and his council’s suggestions that he rest. The king had an image to uphold after all. The Crown had to stay strong to protect the people.

But no one thought about the Crown’s son.

Nyx closed his eyes and breathed through his nose; slow, deep breaths that had him in a much better frame of mind when he opened his eyes. He frowned at the two kids in front of him—and really, that’s what they were, two kids scared out of their wits; sullen teenagers who were facing down The Man (and damned if THAT didn’t make him feel old), one of them trying to help his friend out of a difficult situation, the other trying his damnedest to pretend that nothing was wrong. It’d be admirable, really, if it hadn’t been for the fact that they were, without a doubt, _his_ responsibility.

Astrals, he _hated_ babysitting.

“Get your shit together and follow me,” he said, turning on his heel and hoping they’d fill in the implied ‘or else’ with something dire enough to cow them into obedience. He didn’t turn around, didn’t want to imply that he thought they might actually disobey him because then that would shatter the illusion that he was in control of the situation, but it was definitely a tense step or two of intense listening before he finally heard them fall in behind him, the soft rustle of plastic bags and quiet, panicked murmurs of Blondie following him as he lead them down the mostly-deserted streets. It was easier, the further they went from the center of town—weaving through the more residential parts of the district meant that it was quieter, easier to track the two of them behind him, easier to keep an ear out for potential threats and attack.

But their walk was short and uneventful, and when he stopped by the dimly lit doorway and gestured them inside, his two wayward charges exchanged confused looks. Nyx sighed, feeling the tension build behind his eyes. The headache would be his own damn fault, of course, but he’d still bitch about it to the guys tonight.

“In,” he said with more irritation that was probably warranted, and definitely gruffer than was expressly permitted when speaking to a royal charge, but Noct made no complaint as he walked in, his nervous companion falling in step behind him. Nyx gave the alleyway a final, cursory glance, but there was nothing to see, and he quickly stepped in behind them, nearly bumping into the teens who stood frozen in the dimly lit doorway.

“What is this?” asked Noct, turning to look at the Glaive. While Nyx couldn’t really make out the prince’s expression in the gloom, he could hear the confused wonder. He got that—he felt the same way the first time he’d stumbled in.

“Porre’s Pinball Emporium and Arcade,” he replied, then dug into his pocket and pulled out two crisp notes and handed them to the boys. “Don’t spend it all in one place. I’m gonna be at the bar, let me know when you’re ready to go and I’ll escort you to Blondie’s.”

“Why?” asked Noct, suspicion in his voice. Nyx just shrugged, checking his wallet to make sure he could grab something to drink while he waited—something nonalcoholic, since it wouldn’t be appropriate to drink while babysitting, as much as he felt like it might be warranted.

“Do you _want_ me to bust your ass?” he asked, putting a little more emphasis into his words. He waved them off towards the shooting gallery. “Easier for my conscience to know where you are. And Porre’s got some good units. You should try out the Chocobo Chomp rig, your friend might get a kick outta it.”

“…thanks.”

Nyx watched them dutifully go to the token machine and cash in the notes, then they headed over to the Chocobo Chomp game. He settled into his stool at the bar, chatting up Porre and sipping his drink as the teens worked their way around the dingy room. Blondie kept sending him furtive looks, like he thought that Nyx was gonna call the guard dogs on them at any minute, but Nyx’s attention was more on the prince.

The kid was… well, he didn’t look _happy_ , he didn’t think that was part of Noct’s repertoire when adults were involved in his affairs, but he looked relaxed. The prince, at least, had realized that no one in this shithole of an arcade cared about who he was, and probably would be more upset if he cleared a saved high score than if they discovered royalty was in their midst. And he actually _laughed_ a couple of times, so that was something.

Noct looked up once and happened to catch Nyx watching them, Prompto too distracted by some zombie shooting game to notice. The prince stared for a moment, then gave a slight, hesitant nod before letting Prompto drag him back to the game. Nyx decided to take that as a win.

It was getting close to dinner time by the time the teens ran out of money for the token machine, and they gathered up their trash and discarded uniforms before walking over to the bar. Nyx slid off his stool, grateful for the chance to get moving again, then nodded them towards the entrance.

Any tentative truce between the prince and the glaive that might have been was quickly quashed as they stepped outside. The low purr of a waiting car and the polite cough of the driver brought back the prince’s scowl. He turned to glare at Nyx, who held up his hands in mock surrender.

“I have places to be, kid, and people needed to know where you were,” he clapped a hand on Ignis’ shoulder as he started to walk away. As it was, he’d have to jog to get to training in time, but he stopped to give the prince one last bit of advice. “I told Porre to make sure people leave you alone if you decide to come back. You’re welcome back any time, so long as it’s after school hours.”

He waved goodbye over his shoulder, then headed off at a brisk trot. He’d use the time heading over to the courtyard to figure out what he’d tell the guys for being late, since “I helped the prince play hooky” would probably land his ass in hot water, too. He didn’t think Scientia would say anything about his part in the scheme, but he definitely jumped when he felt the buzz in his pocket a few minutes into his warmup jog.

He pulled out his phone and flicked it on, half afraid to see Drautos calling him in to ream him out, but it was a text from an unknown number, short and sweet and clearly meant to be interpreted as “you don’t have to worry, everything is fine.”

>   **Msg from XX15:** thanks

Nyx saved the number, shooting off a quick “LMK if you need tips on how to get good at any of those games, kid” in reply. He quickly got a middle finger gif in response, but he laughed, taking it in the spirit it was meant. The prince might never take him up on it, but at least he knew the offer was there.


End file.
